Thursday, March 11, 2010

Tak Boleh To Local Govt. Elections

When Guan Eng first raised the idea of bringing back the local government elections, Najib Razak said no way to that. It was already anticipated that with that, the head goes in one way, and the tail will go another way. What it means is that if you are a BN state government, and having a local government that is fully leaning towards the PR, things don't go in sync due to opposing forces.

Of course this is a double-edge sword. For Kelantan and Selangor in particular, having a PR state government with departments that has staff loyalty to Barisan Nasional, it will give people a wrong perception in how the state is administered. Just like in Selangor, people are complaining of needing approval from UMNO men before you can do something.

But anyhow, looking at the bright side, the time of confrontation and emergency is way faded into the shadows that can no longer be feared upon. So it can be brought back. But you need to repeal the clause included in the Local Government Act 1976 to do that. Plus you need the Election Commission to give a go ahead. So I'd say that BN-majority parliament will shoot down the idea immediately.

Big Mama of course will say no to that idea. But still it is indeed a lose-lose situation for Najib. If PR goes ahead, other BN states will have to do so, follow suit and it does not bode well for Najib and Big Mama, especially if this happens in Perak. Things will go other way round against their favor. Since Najib says no, it is also considered a political and perception win for the PR because this shows how democratic and more moderate they are than BN as they claimed to be.

Faisal Tehrani, who wrote a short story used for SPM BM literature, "Kerana Manisnya Epal" put up an interesting piece that is no doubt a dig at Najib and Bik Mama. Takut bini, as many would say about the first couple. Yes, it can be funny but true indeed, and this could put a color anecdote to what is above about rejecting a Local Government Election.